300 gr Woodleigh “heavy duty” for .375 H&H

I'm gonna give the 375H&H Norma 350 grain FMJ and Softs a go and see how they shoot for me.
Not that a Cape Buffalo would ever be pole axed, but I'm looking for every advantage short of going up in caliber.
I'm currently shooting 300 grain Swift A-Frames, but with a scope change coming up it seems like a good time to check out other stuff.

BeeMaa said:

I'm gonna give the 375H&H Norma 350 grain FMJ and Softs a go and see how they shoot for me.
Not that a Cape Buffalo would ever be pole axed, but I'm looking for every advantage short of going up in caliber.
I'm currently shooting 300 grain Swift A-Frames, but with a scope change coming up it seems like a good time to check out other stuff.

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May l ask why not a good Monolithic solids in .375 HH Magnum ? I hear good things about them , except a recent report from a friend in Grizzly bear country who used A - square Monolithic solids in an M1 Garand ( .30-06 ) and a Colt Sauer ( .458 Winchester Magnum ) . The guy's rifle barrels got ruined. The .30-06 lasted 700 rounds , give or take. And he documented the .458 properly and counted 571 rounds before the barrel bore rifling was unacceptably worn out .
I have only fired 12 monolithic solids from my .375 till now and am really impressed.

Hoss Delgado said:

May l ask why not a good Monolithic solids in .375 HH Magnum ? I hear good things about them , except a recent report from a friend in Grizzly bear country who used A - square Monolithic solids in an M1 Garand ( .30-06 ) and a Colt Sauer ( .458 Winchester Magnum ) . The guy's rifle barrels got ruined. The .30-06 lasted 700 rounds , give or take. And he documented the .458 properly and counted 571 rounds before the barrel bore rifling was unacceptably worn out .
I have only fired 12 monolithic solids from my .375 till now and am really impressed.

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First, it is necessary to let you know that I don't reload...and I'm not looking to start.
What I am doing is trying to keep my point of impact the same for softs and solids.

In a perfect world Federal would get off their ass and load 300 grain Woodleigh Hydros, but that ain't happening.

So, plan B is going with Norma loaded ammo with Woodeigh bullets.
Figuring the same ammo company and the same bullet company with the same bullet profile...should be close.

The reality of me needing a solid is pretty slim and I'd only load one if my PH asked me to.
I'll stick mostly to softs and the 350's may not make the cut anyway because I do take shots out to 300 yards.
Wondering what kind of arc I would have to account for with a 20% increase in weight at that range.
Norma doesn't even list a drop for the 350's at 300 yards which really means that they are for up close and personal use.

I'm just gonna buy a couple of boxes and see how they shoot.
If they don't shoot well, I can fall back to the 300 grain Swift A-Frames and look for a mono-metal solid that shoots close to that.

Having taken a great number of elephant and buffalo + plains game, lion and leopard, Woodleighs have always been my bullet of choice. Solids or softs, I have never had a problem in the following calibers: 470, 450, 375 & 404, .450/.400. I have never had a reason to use anything else.

I’ve ordered a box of Woodleigh 300 gr. For my .375 H&H.
Does anyone have a recommendation for load data?

hoss,
I don't think monolithic bullets in themselves would "wear " out a barrel.
this is not to say they did not damage it in some way, or it did not wear out.
usually so called wear in a barrel is actually flame erosion.
boattails seem to speed up this process due to directing more flame heat onto the bore than flatbase bullets.
what really happened to those barrels would be interesting to know.
bruce.

bruce moulds said:

hoss,
I don't think monolithic bullets in themselves would "wear " out a barrel.
this is not to say they did not damage it in some way, or it did not wear out.
usually so called wear in a barrel is actually flame erosion.
boattails seem to speed up this process due to directing more flame heat onto the bore than flatbase bullets.
what really happened to those barrels would be interesting to know.
bruce.

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Bruce , here is what happened. The guy owns and collects Vintage guns ( l am envious of his collection . He even has a British double barrel rifle which fired quarter pound lead bullets ) . He uses an M1 Garand and a .458 Winchester Magnum Colt Sauer for hunting Bears . For the M1 Garand , he used to use .30-06 220 grain A Square Monolithic solids. For the Colt Sauer , he used to use 500 grain .458 Win Mag A square monolithic solids . He was really happy with them. Being a ballistics enthusiast , he keeps a journal detailing his guns ( like how many shots fired , what modifications , etc ) . He recorded that after 571 shots using A square monolithic solids , the .458 Win Mag barrel of the Colt Sauer had it's rifling worn through. After 746 rounds of A square Monolithic solids , the barrel of the .30-06 M1 Garand was shot out.
I know that he takes care of his guns REALLY well. Imagine a guy so dedicated to shooting , that he will get over 4000 monolithic solids from a Defunct company and stock pile them.
I myself have only shot about 10-13 Monolithic solids ( 300 grain ) from my .375 HH Magnum Winchester Model 70. I hope that my rifling doesn't get damaged in anyway.

If I’m not mistaken the A-square solids did not have driving bands which may make it harder on the barrel and caused some pressure spikes similar to the old Barnes X bullets not having grooves in them and the TSX have the groove which allow the rifling to displace bullet material into the grooves. Most modern monolithic solids are a driving band or even a dual diameter like the north fork. Please correct me if I’m wrong but I assume this could cause Barrel wear.

Wyatt Smith said:

If I’m not mistaken the A-square solids did not have driving bands which may make it harder on the barrel and caused some pressure spikes similar to the old Barnes X bullets not having grooves in them and the TSX have the groove which allow the rifling to displace bullet material into the grooves. Most modern monolithic solids are a driving band or even a dual diameter like the north fork. Please correct me if I’m wrong but I assume this could cause Barrel wear.

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That's a very sensible speculation , Wyatt. I myself am new to Monolithic solids. I have only been using them for two months now. You are right. I just checked .The monolithic solids which l have , do have a driving band on them. Whether the old Monolithic solids from A square had them , l cannot say.